Merlin rocks. And, like Gorgonzola, I also have the Audobon app. The key is to fire them up prior to leaving your house, if you live in a cell-signal devoid area like I do. Merlin has told me that there are no birds in my location, some days.
Now that you have Merlin, you need to enter your info into
ebird. And, if you're a total bird nerd, like me, you can scope out which birds are in your neck of the woods. This is especially helpful during migration, so you can plan your trip.
I also have just downloaded Seek. So far, I am fan. I have identified several plants, and discovered that the frogs that I have loved listening to twang are green frogs. I had thought they were bullfrogs, until I heard a bullfrog bellow the other day at Buttermilk.
And, yeah, bird porn is a total thing. I have a yard list of birds, and a list for birds around work, as well as adding to ebird. I have a pair of cheap mini-binocs for when I go jogging. I usually only take then during migration. However, I can ID most of the local birds by sound.
The down side of all of this, is that when the birds start calling at 4:45 during the summer, I am very aware of their sounds.
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